1
Social and Personality Development: Psyc 413 Syllabus
Instructor:
Dr. Susan Birch, Assistant Professor
Office: Kenny Room 2031 (corner of West Mall and University)
Office hours: Following class on Mondays and Wednesdays or by appointment.
E-mail: sbirch@psych.ubc.ca
Teaching Assistant:
Chris Newitt
Office: Kenny Room 1101 (corner of West Mall and University)
Office hours: 12:30-1:30 Thursdays or by appointment
E-mail: csnewitt@interchange.ubc.ca
Course Description:
This course will provide an introduction to the major theories and empirical research that is fundamental to our
understanding of social and personality development. An emphasis will be placed on ‘social cognition’. Social
cognition is one of the predominant research perspectives in social and developmental psychology today. It utilizes
both cognitive and social psychological theories and methodologies to understand how people make sense of their
social world—i.e., how they perceive, represent, interpret, and remember information about themselves and about
other individuals and groups. This course will take a cross-disciplinary approach combining methodology and ideology
from Developmental, Social, and Cognitive Psychology as well as Comparative Cognition and Clinical Psychology.
We will explore social-cognitive attributions throughout the lifespan. In infancy, we will discuss early social-cognitive
skills such as the importance of face perception, detection of social contingencies, imitation, attachment, and naïve
psychology (an understanding people as distinct from inanimate objects). In preschoolers, we will discuss children’s
developing theory of mind (the ability to understand and evaluate the intentions, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of
themselves and others) and the role it plays in language development. In middle school and adolescence we will
examine moral and prosocial development, gender development, peer-assessment, and the understanding of self. A
discussion of social and personality development in non-human animals will be included to exemplify unique human
capacities as well as the commonalities with other species. In addition, a discussion of social and personality
development in atypical populations (e.g. Autism, Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder,
and Dissociative Identity Disorder) will shed light on the nature of the mechanisms underlying certain social and
personality characterisics.
Course Requirements:
 2 Quizzes/Exams each worth 30% of your final grade
 1 Paper worth 25% of your final grade
 Oral Presentation/Outline [~10%]/Class Participation [~5%] worth 15% of your final grade
** Presentation outlines must be e-mailed to me by 10:00 am the morning prior to your presentation along
with an electronic copy (pdf preferred) of the paper you chose to present. If an electronic copy of the paper
is not available please bring me a hard copy of the paper the day of your presentation. But, outlines must be
e-mailed by 10:00 the day before!
Text and Readings (available at the UBC Bookstore):
Required: Hala, S. (1999) The Development of Social Cognition, Taylor & Francis Inc, 408pp.
Required: Psych 413 Course Packet (contains 25 articles and chapters)
**Lecture Slides available online: http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~sbirch/Psych413/
2
Topic Timeline
Week 1: Introduction to the Fundamentals in Social and Personality Development
Readings:
 Ch. 1 Introduction (Hala)
 Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Development (CP)
 Temperament and Social Development (CP)
Wed, Sept. 8th
Course Introduction/Course Mechanics
Fri, Sept. 10th
Fundamentals in Social and Personality Development
Week 2: Early Precursors and the Beginnings of Social Cognition
Readings:




Ch. 4 The Development of Meaning in Infancy (Hala)
Ch. 5 Infants’ Understanding of Affect (Hala)
Discrimination and Imitation of Facial Expressions by Neonates (CP)
Developmental Psychology: Rational Imitation in Preverbal Infants (CP)
Mon, Sept. 13th
Wed, Sept. 15th
Fri, Sept. 17th
Presentations and Discussion
Week 3: Emotional Development
Readings:
 Ch. 7 Peeling the Onion: A Multi-layered View of Children’s Emotional Development (Hala)
 Delay of Gratification by Mischel (CP)
Mon, Sept. 20th
Wed Sept. 22nd
Fri, Sept. 24th
Presentations and Discussion
3
Week 4: Attachment and Borderline Personality Disorder
Readings:
 Infant-Mother Attachment (CP)
 Girl Interrupted: Borderline Personality Disorder (CP)
Mon, Sept. 27th
Wed. Sept. 29th
Short Teaching Evaluation: How am I doing so far?
Fri, Oct. 1st
Presentations and Discussion
Week 5: Understanding Mental Life: The Development of a “Theory of Mind”
Readings:
 Ch. 6 All in the Mind: Children’s Understanding of Mental Life (Hala)
 Understanding Children’s and Adults’ Limitations in Mental State Reasoning (CP)
 On the Distinction between false belief understanding and Subscribing to an Interpretive Theory
of Mind (CP)
Mon, Oct. 4th
Wed. Oct. 6th
Fri, Oct. 8th
Week 6: Understanding Mental Life: The Development of a “Theory of Mind” cont’d…
Mon, Oct. 11th --THANKSGIVING--NO CLASSES
Wed. Oct 13th ---Presentations and Discussions
Fri. Oct. 15th: QUIZ 1
4
Week 7: Autism: A Theory of Mind Deficit?
Readings:
 Autistic Disorder (CP)
 The Undiscovered Mind (CP)
 The Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism (CP)
Mon, Oct. 18th
Wed. Oct. 20th
Fri, Oct. 22nd
Presentations and Discussion
Week 8: Social Development in Non-human Animals
Readings:
 Imitation by Animals: How do they do it? (CP)
 Why Be Nice? Psychological Constraints on the Evolution of Cooperation (CP)
 Chimpanzees Understand Psychological States—The Question is Which Ones and To What
Extent? (CP)
 The Domestication of Social Cognition in Dogs
Mon, Oct. 25th
Wed. Oct. 27th
Fri, Oct. 29th
Presentations and Discussion
Week 9: Gender Development
Readings:
 Sex Differences in Social Behavior (CP)
 The Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism (re-read) (CP)
Mon, Nov. 1st
Wed. Nov. 3rd
Fri, Nov. 5th
Presentations and Discussion
5
Week 10: Moral and Prosocial Development
Readings:
 Ch. 9 Moral Development in the Broader Context of Personality (Hala)
 Ch. 10 Social Cognition and Prosocial Development (Hala)
 Peer Rejection: Origins and Effects on Children’s Development (CP)
Mon, Nov. 8th
Wed. Nov. 10th
Fri, Nov. 12th
Presentations and Discussion
Week 11: Moral and Prosocial Dev. cont.d… and Anti-social Personality Disorder
Readings:




Psychopathology (CP)
The Duke of Deception: Antisocial Personality Disorder (CP)
A Developmental Perspective on Antisocial Behavior (CP)
The Roots of the Problem (CP)
Mon, Nov. 15th
Wed. Nov 17th
Fri, Nov. 19th
Presentations and Discussion
Week 12: The Development of Self, Autobiographical Memory, and Dissociative Identity
Disorder
Readings:
 The Psychological and Social Origins of Autobiographical Memory (CP)
 Dissociative Identity Disorder: Multiple Personality (CP)
 Memory, Amnesia, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (CP)
Mon, Nov. 22nd
Wed. Nov. 24th
Fri, Nov. 26th: Quiz 2
6
Week 13: Final Presentations, Wrap-up, and Conclusions
Mon, Nov. 29th
Presentations and Discussion
Discussion of Final Paper Assignment
Wed. Dec. 1st
Presentations and Discussion
Discussion of Final Paper Ideas
Fri, Dec. 3rd
Discussion of Final Paper Ideas
Wrap-Up and Conclusions
Teaching Evaluations
Final Paper: Due Tues. Dec. 7th by Noon (or before) !!!
*both an electronic copy and a hard copy
7
Psych 413 Social and Personality Development:
Paper Assignment
Assignment
Write a 5-7 page paper (double-spaced) on a topic of your choice within social and personality development.
Specifically, the paper should:
A) Review the relevant literature on that topic that was discussed in class, or was covered in the text or
course packet.
B) Raise an interesting question that has not been answered by this literature.
C) Outline a method a researcher could employ to address that question.
D) Discuss the importance of this research (i.e. its implications for the field of psychology, and more
broadly, for society at large).
Note: You will not actually be asked to conduct the experiment!! Just describe and discuss it.
Topics
The question you pose will look at a specific aspect within one of the topics that we have covered in class
such as early precursors to social cognition, emotion, attachment, ‘theory of mind’, social and personality
development in non-human animals, gender development, moral and prosocial development, or the
development of self.
Structure
Introduction (~2 pages)
Begin by stating the specific topic you are interested in (e.g. stereotype judgments in adolescence) and
discuss studies that have been conducted in this area that are specifically relevant to your topic. Discuss what
this research tells us about human nature and how it contributes to the field. Then, pose a question that has
not yet been addressed (to the best of your knowledge). Briefly state how you might go about answering this
question. State your hypotheses—what would you expect to find, and why? State why this is an interesting
question and how knowledge of the answer would contribute to the field, (briefly, as you will elaborate on
this is your discussion).
Method (~1-2 pages):
Briefly state who your participants will be (e.g. age, gender, typically or atypically developing, from
daycares, at home, schools, etc). Describe any equipment or stimuli that you would use (e.g. cameras,
computers, questionnaires, etc.). Describe the procedure in detail from start to finish mentioning your
rationale for using this type of method. Divide this section into 3 subsections: Participants, Materials,
Procedure.
8
Conclusions (~2-3 pages)
Remind the reader again what you expect to find and your rationale for your prediction. What would those
results mean (i.e. your interpretation of those results)? Discuss why these findings would be an important
contribution to our understanding of human nature. Discuss as many applications as you can think of for
such findings (e.g. How might educators make use of such research? Are there any legal or political
implications for such findings? Might such findings be useful for people in industry or entertainment? etc.).
Convince the reader this is an important question with valuable applications.
A Note on Referencing
You will not need a separate reference section at the end listing the studies you discussed in the introduction.
Simply put the last name of the authors and the year in the body of the text. For example: Meltzoff and
Moore (1983) conducted a study to address… Or, “people are more likely to recall negative memories when
a negative mood is induced than when a positive mood is induced (Maurer & Maurer, 1988)”. If the study
was described in lecture but it was unclear who conducted the study, simply put (Lecture Notes, 2004) at the
end of the sentence or paragraph describing the study. If the information came from one of the texts but it
was unclear who conducted the study, use the text author as the reference (e.g. Hala, 1999).
Grading
Each of the following 4 components will be given a mark out of 25:
1) Writing Style: Be clear, yet concise. Proofread! Make sure there are no typos, spelling errors, or
grammatical mistakes. Pay attention to structure and paragraphing. Lead from one study or
argument to the next in a logical order. It should flow.
2) Quality of literature review: The introduction should contain a summary of the research that is
relevant to your research question. The results and the importance of these studies should be made
clear. The paragraphs should flow from one to the next in a logical order leading up to the question
you plan to address with your method.
3) Soundness of Method: The question that you choose for your paper should be novel. Clearly outline
how your method addresses that question. As with any method, there are limitations that could not be
avoided. Briefly discuss these!
4) Critical/Analytical Thought: The paper should demonstrate that you have thought deeply about the
literature that you have reviewed and the best design to test your question. It should exhibit sound
reasoning to support your predictions and arguments. Critical thought can be demonstrated by being
able to identify the limitations of the existing research (and of your own research methodology) and
by recognizing the implications of such research. Creativity in designing the method and in
generating ideas for the applications and implications of the research is a great way to demonstrate
that you have thought critically about the topic.
9
Academic Dishonesty
Simply put: JUST DON’T DO IT!!!
Please Read the Following UBC Policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty:
The following is a summary of key points from UBC policies related to plagiarism. Web page URLs are
provided for the full policy material, including definitions and penalties.
Policy #69 Student Discipline (http://www.policy.ubc.ca/policy69.htm)
Academic Misconduct
Cheating: This includes but is not limited to dishonest or attempted dishonest conduct at tests or
examinations.
Plagiarism: This includes but is not limited to the presentation or submission of the work of another person,
without citation or credits, as the student's own work.
It should be noted for students that submission of their own previously submitted work without citation is
also considered fraudulent.
When a member of faculty suspects that misconduct has occurred, he/she shall investigate it immediately. If
satisfied that the misconduct did occur, he/she shall notify the student at once that he plans to report the
incident, and he/she shall then report it immediately to the department head, or to the appropriate person in
the faculty, who in turn shall notify the dean of that faculty or designate without delay. If after thorough
investigation, during which the student shall be given an opportunity to explain the incident, the misconduct
has been established, the academic aspects of the matter may be dealt with, and appropriate academic action
taken by the department or faculty concerned.
When the misconduct consists of plagiarism as described above, zero credit or some other mark may be
assigned by the faculty for the plagiarized submission.
The action thus taken shall be reported immediately to the President's Advisory Committee on Student
Discipline by the dean of the faculty in which the misconduct occurred, together with a complete description
of the evidence upon which the faculty action was based.
10
From the UBC Calendar:
(http://students.ubc.ca/publications/calendar/index.cfm?part=3&content=54&sub=111)
Academic Freedom
The members of the university enjoy certain rights and privileges essential to the fulfilment of its primary
functions: instruction and the pursuit of knowledge. Central among these rights is the freedom, within the
law, to pursue what seem to them fruitful avenues of inquiry, to teach and to learn unhindered by external or
non-academic constraints, to engage in full and unrestricted consideration of any opinion. This freedom
extends not only to the regular members of the university but to all who are invited to participate in its
forum. Suppression of this freedom, whether by institutions of the state, the officers of the university or the
actions of private individuals, would prevent the university carrying out its primary functions. All members
of the university must recognize this fundamental principle and must share responsibility for supporting,
safeguarding and preserving this central freedom. Behaviour that obstructs free and full discussion, not only
of ideas which are safe and accepted but of those which may be unpopular or even abhorrent, vitally
threatens the integrity of the university's forum. Such behaviour cannot be tolerated.
Student Discipline
The President of the university has the right under the University Act (Section 61) to take whatever
disciplinary action is deemed to be warranted by a student's misconduct.
Misconduct subject to penalty includes, but is not limited to, the following offences:
1. Plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of academic misconduct in which an individual submits or presents the
work of another person as his or her own. Scholarship quite properly rests upon examining and referring
to the thoughts and writings of others. However, when excerpts are used in paragraphs or essays, the
author must be acknowledged through footnotes or other accepted practices. Substantial plagiarism exists
when there is no recognition given to the author for phrases, sentences, and ideas of the author
incorporated in an essay. Complete plagiarism exists when an entire essay is copied from an author, or
composed by another person, and presented as original work. Students in doubt as to what constitutes a
case of plagiarism should consult their instructor.
2. Submitting the same essay, presentation, or assignment more than once whether the earlier submission
was at this or another institution, without prior approval.
Penalties
The penalties that may be imposed, singly or in combination, for any of the above offences may include, but
are not limited to, the following:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
A failing grade or mark of zero in the course, examination, or assignment in which the academic
misconduct occurred.
Suspension from the University for a specified period of time, or indefinitely. Students will not
receive credit for courses taken at another institution during a suspension.
Suspension or cancellation of any scholarships or prizes.
A letter of reprimand.
A notation of the academic discipline on the student's record in the Student Information System,
which will appear on the student's Transcript of Academic Record. However, after a specified period
of time, the student may appeal to the President to have this notation removed.
1. The penalty for substantial or complete plagiarism, or for cheating, normally is suspension from the
university.
11
TurnItIn Program
Website: www.turnitin.com
In this course you will be required to submit some material in electronic form. When this is required, it will
be noted. The electronic material will be submitted to a service to which UBC subscribes, called TurnItIn.
This is a service that checks textual material for originality.
Students should refer to the current UBC calendar for policies on plagiarising:
http://students.ubc.ca/publications/calendar/index.cfm?part=3&content=54&sub=111)
As well you should refer to the following material as an aid to writing effectively and avoiding plagiarism
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/FOA/students/plagiarism.htm
What is TurnItIn?
This is a web-site that checks for the originality of material. It works as follows:
Students up load the text of their paper to the TurnItIn website or electronically submit papers to instructors.
Software scans the paper and reports on originality (on a scale from 1 to 5). Using a variety of algorithms,
the program compares the paper to material on the Web and in its databases. (It will detect copying even if a
student replaces up to 50% of the words in a paragraph). Instances of copying are flagged in a report.
Faculty sign-on to the website and review the reports for their students (which literally means scanning down
a screen where a thumbnail report for each paper appears in 2-3 lines, with a colour-coded graph). More
extensive reports for papers with low originality scores can then be studied in more detail, including the
sources of any text that is matched in the student’s paper. Faculty members decide, with help from the
report, whether this is or is not a case of plagiarism. Privacy and security are high at this password-protected
site.
What does it check?
This service, created by a University of California, Berkeley Professor and former graduate student, scans
papers submitted by students for:




Material copied from public web sites
Papers purchased from paper mills
Essays/assignments previously or concurrently submitted to TurnItIn
Some (and rapidly increasing) published works (e.g., journals)
Why does UBC subscribe to this service?
1. It helps in reinforcing academic integrity as a core value of the university.
2. It responds to a growing concern about a “level playing field” for all students.
3. It reinforces the need to provide instruction in writing across the disciplines.
12
Psych 413: Social and Personality Development
Course Pack: Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Social Development
Temperament and Social Development
Discrimination and Imitation of Facial Expressions by Neonates
Developmental Psychology: Rational Imitation in Preverbal Infants
Delay of Gratification in Children
Infant-Mother Attachment
Girl Interrupted: Borderline Personality Disorder
Understanding Children’s and Adult’s Limitations in Mental State Reasoning
On the Distinction between False Belief Understanding & Subscribing to an Interpretive Theory of
Mind
10. Autistic Disorder
11. The Undiscovered Mind
12. The Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism
13. Imitation by Animals: How Do They Do It?
14. Why Be Nice? Psychological Constraints on the Evolution of Cooperation
15. Chimpanzees Understand Psychological States—The Question Is Which Ones And To What Extent?
16. The Domestication of Social Cognition in Dogs
17. Sex Differences in Social Behavior
18. Peer Rejection: Origins and Effects on Children’s Development
19. Psychopathology
20. The Duke of Deception: Antisocial Personality Disorder
21. A Developmental Perspective on Antisocial Behavior
22. The Roots of the Problem
23. The Psychological and Social Origins of Autobiographical Memory
24. Dissociative Identity Disorder: Multiple Personality
25. Memory, Amnesia, & Dissociative Identity Disorder